That’s not exactly a surprise, as the Browns appear committed to contending next season and acquired Taylor from the Buffalo Bills as a means of gaining stability at the most important position on the field. If Cleveland ends up taking one of the QBs in this year’s deep class, they won’t have to rush the player onto the field like they did with DeShone Kizer and so many others before him.

On paper, we have already named the Browns one of our most improved teams of the early offseason. New general manager John Dorsey clearly is not thinking about just winning a handful of games in 2018, otherwise he would not have acquired players like Jarvis Landry, Carlos Hyde, Demarious Randall and Taylor. It makes sense that the Browns fully intend to have Taylor start in Week 1, even if it is somewhat surprising that Jackson ended the discussion so early.

Hours after acquiring Jarvis Landry in a trade with the Miami Dolphins, the Browns acquired quarterback Tyrod Taylor from the Buffalo Bills. NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport says Cleveland is trading a third-round pick (No. 65 overall) to the Bills for Taylor.

Taylor was due a $6 million roster bonus, so that put some pressure on the Bills to move the quarterback. Cleveland will now be paying $16 million for a very competent QB who just took a team to the playoffs last season.

Taylor is set to be a free agent after the 2018 season and is unlikely to be the Browns’ long-term solution at the position, but he gives them their best quarterback in years.

Between Landry, Taylor, and the Nos. 1 and 4 picks in the draft, one of which they could use on running back Saquon Barkley, we will likely be looking at a revamped, much-improved Browns offense next season.

The official start to the new league year is less than a month away, which means all 32 NFL teams are gearing up for their annual free agency frenzy.

In preparation for said frenzy, each team is currently deep in evaluation mode, looking not just at the crop of impending free agents, but also their own impending free agents and what remains of their roster. Teams must decide whom they’d like to bring back, sign, perhaps equally important, who they can part ways with in an effort to trim their salary cap.

Already this month we’ve seen the New York Giants release Bobby Hart, the Kansas City Chiefs terminate the contract of Darrelle Revis, and the Bucs release Chris Baker and Doug Martin. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg; a plethora of releases will be coming in relatively short order.

Who is poised to join the list of available players? Here’s a look at 15 players who could be released prior to the start of free agency.

15. Adrian Peterson, RB, Arizona Cardinals

Although it’s not yet official, it’s widely believed that the Cardinals are poised to part ways with future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson despite a few successful weeks with the team. He was acquired from the New Orleans Saints in a trade that sent a sixth-round pick in the other direction. Entering 2018, Peterson is on the books for a $1.05 million base salary and a cap hit of $2,881,250 including bonuses. There would be no dead cap hit to release the long-time veteran, so Arizona essentially rented Peterson for a portion of the year. At 32 years old and a displaying clear inability to stay healthy — Peterson has appeared in a full 16 games just once since 2012 — it makes sense that the Cardinals plan to go in a different direction. Peterson, however, insists he’s not done playing just yet.

Taylor took a pay cut last offseason, but it doesn’t sound like he’s willing to entertain such a proposal again. While he wasn’t awful, he threw just 14 touchdown passes in as many starts, and the Bills didn’t look like they had full faith in him even as he was winning games for them. It’s probably best for both sides to move on.

Tyrod Taylor probably needs a new team, the Denver Broncos probably need a new quarterback, and both sides could be getting just that this offseason.

Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post reported this week that many are pegging the Broncos as the top landing spot for the Buffalo Bills quarterback if he is released or traded, as expected. Jhabvala also notes Taylor’s connection with Broncos executive Gary Kubiak, who was previously the former Pro Bowler’s offensive coordinator on the Baltimore Ravens.

Denver’s QB play was atrocious last season — their trio under center of Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, and Brock Osweiler always seemed to be injured, totally inept, or some combination of both. As for Taylor, he endured a rough year in Buffalo where he put up his career-worst numbers as a starter and was briefly benched for Nathan Peterman before his season came to a painful end.

Taylor, 28, will be owed a $10 million base salary for 2018 and a $6 million roster bonus due in March. But in any case, he probably has at least the raw talent to make a short-term difference for the Broncos after their 5-11 2017.

NFL wild-card weekend is complete, and we’re down to eight remaining teams in the postseason. Four teams are going home after suffering losses. That means plenty of goats will have an entire offseason to reflect on what went wrong for them at the worst possible time.

Here’s a list of 10 big disappointments from the first weekend of the NFL playoffs.

Andy Reid, Chiefs

The Chiefs’ second half collapse on Saturday will do nothing to dispel Reid’s reputation as a guy who can consistently get you to the playoffs, but doesn’t know how to win there. Up 18 points at halftime, the Chiefs sleepwalked through the second half, ultimately losing out to a Titans team that some viewed as the worst in the playoffs. Not everything that happened was Reid’s fault, but he ultimately bears responsibility — especially since this keeps happening on his watch.

Officiating in Chiefs-Titans game

A series of reports on Sunday indicated that referee Jeff Triplette, who headed the crew that worked the Chiefs/Titans game, was retiring. If he is, he certainly didn’t go out on a high note. His crew made several bizarre decisions during the game, most notably ruling Marcus Mariota down by forward progress, wiping out a fumble that could have changed the entire game. The explanation for that ruling was woefully insufficient. Playoff referees are supposed to get these assignments on merit, but it’s hard to see how Triplette and his crew got that assignment, especially after a performance like that.

As the Bills ended up losing, no word will be required on Taylor’s status going forward, but given how shaken he seemed to be and the length of time he stayed on the ground, it was a rather scary few moments for the quarterback and his team.